Who wants the Muslim call to prayer?

Anjem Choudary, who is helping restore tranquility in Egypt by calling for the imposition of Shari’a in the troubled country, has welcomed Channel 4’s decision.

But elsewhere, the reaction ranges from the strongly negative to resigned shrugs, given the broadcaster’s track record of shock tactics in the audience ratings war.

Channel 4 will broadcast the Adhan at 3am from the start of Ramadan on 9th July. They have drawn the line at doing it five times a day. That will be left to the Channel 4 website. Wikipedia sums up the Adhan’s purpose like this:

‘The main purpose behind the multiple loud pronouncements of Adhan in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief.

‘It is intended to bring to the mind of every believer and non-believer the substance of Islamic beliefs, or its spiritual ideology. In modern times, loudspeakers have been installed on minarets for this purpose.’

In other words, the Adhan is there to drum the tenets of Islam into the ears. This is because the Adhan sums up the Shahada, the statement of faith: ‘There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’.

The British Constitution holds that there is no God but the Almighty God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. So every day during this Islamic festival, a terrestrial broadcaster in the UK will be broadcasting what in any other age would have been regarded as treason.

Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s head of factual programming, said: ‘Observing the adhan on Channel 4 will act as a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate ‘provocation’ to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word.’

Lee added in an article in the Radio Times: ‘Following the horrific events in Woolwich and subsequent reprisals against British Muslims, there has surely never been a more pressing need to give a voice to the moderate mainstream majority.’

But that is not what the Adhan broadcast is doing. It would be more honest to say: ‘Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment.’

Muslim commentator Nesrine Malik, writing in the Guardian, said: ‘Apparently, there is an urgent need, post-Woolwich in particular, to show that Islam is a religion of peace and sacrifice. This is an inherently contradictory stance. If there is such a charged atmosphere in the UK vis a vis Islam, why “provoke” people by projecting this message even more loudly?’

There is another spiritual point to make, and it is to do with the power of proclamation, or confession.

Five times a day from mosques all over the world, an imam declares that Allah is the only deity and Mohammed the only true prophet. We can thank God that loudspeakers have not to date been permitted in Britain, but nevertheless, the Adhan is still being announced.

Would that Christians would proclaim with equal confidence:

‘Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’

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‘Under the cloak of multiculturalism, improving community cohesion, combating Islamophobia and removing prejudice, Western governments and public bodies are unwittingly supporting and partly funding a growing and sophisticated campaign of Muslim missionary activity (Barnabas Magazine July – August 2009)’.

Tedjusant

If I get woken up by the sound of this religion calling to pray at 3am in the morning I will call the police and report a act of disturbance , and a breach of peace will be comitted ,by channel 4 , and it could be the case where channel 4 will be taken to court for an attempt to cause a riot.
So any body that likes to sleep in or has to get up for work After 3am should complain at being woken up at 3am in the morning for no legal reason.

Patricia Jelbert

How can this be taken further – petition? challenge in court against BBC 4 for going against its mandate?
We are still reeling from the Gay Marriage affront to the nation, and now this. Enough is enough!

Rox

Nobody is going to be woken up at 3am by this, or be disturbed or offended by it in any way, unless they have their television switched on and tuned in waiting for it to wake them up. In those circumstances, the police are unlikely to be interested, and Channel 4 will not be taken to court for an attempt to cause a riot. I’m sure there are lots of things on television late which Tedjusant would find offensive if he watched them, but he is wisely tucked up asleep with his television turned off.

David

This is minority rule which was so rightly condemned in countries like S Africa and Rhodesia. why is it allowed here?This is all on track for a Muslim take over of the West which is so wrapped up in its PC, nonracial anything goes liberalism that it will eventually happen unless the Lord returns before then. The Muslim Brotherhood has a plan for global Islamisation. The Egyptians have seen through this as recent events show but this is not the end and it will be back in that country.. Check out numerous websites this one for example : http://www.answering-islam.org/Intro/index.html
Christians are persecuted in many Islamic states including Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan Turkey etc etc.does the western media apart from Christian media ever mention or report on this? never!
Even Christians in the UK cannot see the dangers involved and some even believe we all worship the same god.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exodus 23:13 “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Rox

There is a regular programme on Radio 4 called “Bells on Sunday”. I think you will certainly find bells on Christmas morning without much difficultly, and church services at Easter and other times.

However, I’m not quite sure who David Alan hanchard,B.A. (Hons) means by “they”. I have treated it as meaning broadcasters in the UK generally. It may be that he means Channel 4, in which case there is no need for all this to be specifically on the same channel. After all, the call to prayer is apparently not going to be on BBC2 , and you wouldn’t expect Easter church services to be compulsory watching on all channels at the same time (not even Wimbledon has that status).

It could be, however, that his “they” is Saudi Arabia, or “the Moslem countries” or Muslims in general. I think probably not, but the decision to broadcast this call to prayer is Channel 4’s, so I don’t see how it constitutes “double standrads ” if different countries and television companies have different standards. You can watch far more baseball in the USA than in the UK. Is that a double standard ? The term just doesn’t apply. It is the decision of the BBC etc and NBC etc what they broadcast to their audiences.

Rox, B.Sc. (Hons)

Phil Crouter

I mean how many people are really going to be watching Channel 4 at 3am? ! I most certainly wont be.
Channel 4 has always since 1982 been about controversy and trying to provoke a reaction. The best response for Christians to make is to ignore them.
Christianity has to compete in a marketplace against a whole range of other faiths and philosophies. Christians have to act as ambassadors of Christ and spread the only real truth.

Further to both mine and David’s comment: does post-war immigration also bear blame in this? Possibly. With the best of intentions, politicians at the time allowed a post-war influx leading to self-imposed ghettos (possibly) leading to the flourishing of other faiths new to these shores.
Some Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of “no-go” zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Eg Tower Hamlets London Borough is now unofficially known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuse to acknowledge British law.

Exodus Ch 34, vv 11 – 14: Observe what I command you this day .. Take heed to yourselves, in case you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going (or what you are allowing in) .. you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars .. for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God’.

As the children of Israel, when Moses delayed in coming down from Mount Sinai, bowed down and worshipped their self-made golden idol , (Exodus Ch 32) instead of bowing the knee to the Master we are bowing the knee to the false idol of political correctness.

‘A house (or country) divided against itself shall not stand’.

Rox

“Take heed to yourselves, in case you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going ”

Surely this advice was to Israelites going into a country where their religion was a minority one, and so in 21st century Britain the advice would apply to the Muslims, not to the Christians ? They have the same claim to Jehovah being more or less the same as Allah as Christians do to Jehovah being more or less the same as God; and to their Musa being the same as our Moses and the Moshe of the Jews. So the advice could be read from a holy book, whether it was Muslims in Bradford, Pilgrim Fathers amongst Red Indians, or Jews arriving in ancient Rome or modern settlements.

Darren

The call to prayer via the speaker / Tannoy system has already started in Bradford uk and I guess the muslims are testing the law before it goes uk wide, theyre pushing their luck as usual.
look on youtube for , muslim call to prayer in Bradford in case the link gets removed..
call to prayer in Bradford http://youtu.be/E0INPXZ2XUk

Sera

Dear Dear, so many negative feed back, and to think we all want world peace, love is a universal language it feels so much nicer when we understand and accept othet beliefs……really i grew up with church bells on sundays, i loved it, it never bothered me, also i lived in a Islamic country later on in my adult life and that too was beautiful and i loved it……look at the world now every thing is based on money, greed and sex…….

Yes, to you it does, but not to everyone. To some people it feels so much nicer when they are flying planes into office buildings, blowing themselves up on the London Underground, killing Christians in Cairo and butchering soldiers on the streets of Greenwich.

Now I wasn’t aware that Christians were flying planes into skyscrapers, murdering people in the streets, bombing the London Underground, etc etc, so I guess you are reading different news from the rest of us.

Kathleen

They still sent it out through a loud speaker inside the Mosque in Blackburn area, they may as well have had it outside it was so loud.
12.30 am they were ranting on till. I’d get out of this country if I had the money to go it’s being given away to the demonic. As Paul says about all this, they are not just non-gods but worship of the demonic !!

[…] to the moderate mainstream majority,” he said.But that’s not what is happening, according to a statement from Christian Voice, a ministry for Christians “who are fed up with the way things are, who have had enough of […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]

[…] However, Christian UK blogger Stephen Green, this is not what is happening at all. Referencing the bloody, broad daylight murder and beheading of UK soldier Lee Rigby, he penned “It would be more honest to say: ’Following the atrocity in Woolwich, it’s a good time to shove Islam down ordinary people’s throats and whip up anti-Islamic sentiment,” Green wrote. […]